Dive In
by Run Korrigan Run
Summary: Ashter, Prince of Tirallan, has always felt drawn to the sea. Gabriel, guardian of the Adearin tribe, has always wondered what life is like on land. The human and the merman form a strong friendship, and Ashter finds himself caught in an ancient war.
1. Prologue

**_A/N:_** _Hello again! I'm just going to warn you right off the bat that this is an _extremely_ AU story. There will be heavy fantasy elements, so don't freak out. Kurt and Blaine will be as IC as possible, but there will be some definite tweaks to their personalities since obviously their circumstances are very different. Ashter will be playing the part of Blaine while Gabriel will serve as Kurt. This is most definitely my favorite out of all the story ideas I have, and I'm very excited to be finally getting it started! Enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Dive In<strong>

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

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><p>Once upon a time, there was a castle overlooking the sea.<p>

Formidable and large, it stood like a dutiful gargoyle atop a hill, suspended high above the rolling waves. When storms came, the violent water thundered against the cliff face below in a fury but could never touch it, while the wind keened forlornly around four looming towers but could never bend their shape. The twin flags fluttering above the gatehouse, each blue and gold and emblazoned with the image of a lion, were slightly tattered and torn, but their colors stood stark against the drab gray stone, bright and eager.

The prosperous town of Tirallan lay sprawled down the slope just behind the fortress, alive with shops, homes, and taverns. People from all walks of life bustled this way and that along the busy streets and docks. They lived as they wanted and loved as they pleased, from the smallest child to the mightiest warrior.

They were fearless and they were happy, because their prince was fair and true.

Prince Ashter of Tirallan commanded the respect and admiration of all but a handful of his subjects. No older than twenty-two, he was very young considering the authority he possessed, but handled his power with thoughtfulness and compassion. He had soldiers trained and ready only as a precaution rather than a necessity, and his people enjoyed a peaceful, well-protected existence.

Of course, he was also very handsome.

Several women and even some men within the territory had become smitten with the Prince, falling under a spell cast by eyes the color of honey and dark curls. He preferred males, it seemed, and it was rumored that he had taken a fancy to one of his knights, but he was unwed and expressed little desire to change this truth.

All he seemed to want was to spend time in a quiet little cove just west of the castle, where he would sit or lie upon a large, smooth boulder surrounded by calm, shallow waters. Sometimes he would read, carrying the book gingerly in fear of getting it wet. He liked the old Greek myths the best; the isolation of his hiding spot made it easy to forget himself, to imagine he could soar high above the clouds like Icarus or face a creature as fearsome as the Minotaur with as much bravery as Theseus.

Other times he just liked to listen.

It took his breath away sometimes, listening. On warm days, gulls would gather on shore and cry in harsh tones, and he could sometimes overhear the sailors on passing ships shouting at one another. And the sea...

The sea was so rhythmic, so cyclical in its lapping at the shore that it seemed to be a living thing with a pulse, the waves crashing farther out like the deep breathing of a gigantic, sleeping beast. He would sit in silence, wind pulling at his hair and bare toes dipped in the chilly water, trying to match his inhale and exhale with that of the ocean. More often than not it only made him feel small and insignificant, but sometimes, sometimes he could sense a frail connection, as though he belonged here but was missing something. Something important.

It was on those days that he heard it.

The singing.

The first time he noticed it, Ashter had been sure that it was only the wind. But as he continued listening, he realized it had a distinctly human quality. The notes were not just notes. They were _words_, he was sure, and although they were smooth, flowing, and pleasant to the ear, they were not in any tongue he recognized.

And at the same time, it was completely inhuman.

It came from nowhere, it seemed, and he couldn't tell if it was male or female. It floated faintly in the air around him from a phantasmal source, and stirred a part of him that had been sleeping for a very long time awake. He had heard it before, he knew, but could not remember where or why.

It was indescribably beautiful. The song was always the same, and even though he could not understand the language, there was so much _longing_ in the tone itself that it made his heart ache. He just _knew_ somehow that it was about love, and that made him feel better about not knowing where it was coming from. Whoever – or whatever – it was could not make so pure a sound and have a tainted heart, and he did not feel endangered.

One day, while Ashter lay comfortably on his back and gazed up at the gathering clouds, he heard the beginnings of a familiar tune wisp by. He had half a mind to just close his eyes and listen, but today, it was louder than usual. He sat up, his eyes darting this way and that, hoping to finally, _finally_ see a face belonging to the voice.

No one was there. But it was close, closer than it had ever been before. Questions sudden began to swirl in Ashter's head and he strained his ears, curiosity nearly overwhelming him. Why was today different?

It was _definitely_ a man's voice, he realized, albeit a high one. Why wouldn't he show himself? "Who's there?"

It stopped.

Ashter's heart leaped into his throat and he waited tensely for something, _anything_ to happen. Maybe it was a ghost. He waited for several agonizingly long seconds with no sign of life, every sense alive and alert but without reward for their diligence. _Please_, he begged silently. _I want to know who you are._

Still nothing. Slumping his shoulders, the prince looked sadly at the shifting surface of the water. What if he scared it away? What if it never came back again? He had never tried to speak to it before, even though that seemed like the obvious thing to do. Maybe he should go...

The remnants of the song still whispering in his ears, Ashter went back up the hill.

That night, he dreamed of strange blue eyes.

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><p><strong><em>AN:_**_ Thanks for reading! Reviews and constructive criticism is much appreciated._


	2. Chapter One

**_A/N:_**_ This is the actual first chapter, since the other one was kind of just a prologue to set everything into motion. It's a little bit longer and I'm kind of worried it's a bit _too_ long, so I would love to hear what you guys think. A big thanks to UnicornMachine for being generally awesome and all that jazz. Again, Ashter = Blaine and Gabriel = Kurt. Their names are different only because I feel those are somewhat modern names and sort of disrupt the flow of the story. Anyways. Enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

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><p>Ashter was being watched.<p>

When he first became aware of it, he tried to ignore it. It must have been his imagination; no one ever bothered to disturb him when he came down to his cove, except for maybe on the handful of occasions when he stayed out after dark. It was only mid afternoon. Surely no one was worried about him already, right?

Perhaps something had come up that needed his attention? He shifted where he sat, craning his neck to look around. No, his assistant would have retrieved him by now...

And yet, the prickle along the back of his neck remained.

He glanced about again. Nothing except the lone seagull preening itself casually on the shore, which paused and turned to look at him, as though it sensed his gaze. It squawked and fluttered into the air, seeming to laugh at him, and he flushed pink with embarrassment. He was just being silly! No one was there!

_Besides,_ thought the prince with a saddened frown. _The spirit that once kept me company left this place weeks ago._

He had not heard the voice since the day he tried to speak to it, and his hiding spot had seemed empty ever since. Then again, he had not come down to visit quite nearly as often, either.

A loud splash sounded nearby.

"Who's there?" cried Ashter, his voice breaking with a start as he leaped to his feet and whirled about. By the time he realized which direction it came from, all that was left was a wide ripple. The prince rubbed at his eyes, frantically trying to come up with a rational explanation. That seagull had just missed its dinner, a fish had wandered too close to land, _it was just his imagination..._

"My name is Gabriel, friend."

_Jesus, Mary, and Joseph._

Ashter jumped back and nearly tumbled into the water. With a sickening jolt of horror, his bare foot slipped away from the edge of the wet stone, and with an undignified flail of his arms he managed to catch himself. Dropping onto all fours, he clung to the boulder and huddled there like a cornered animal, feeling safe and supported and thoroughly completing the image of a fool he had so far been so skilled in creating.

Panting breathlessly, the prince was just able to catch the sound of laughter. Wide-eyed, he discovered its source to be a young man with very pale skin. He honestly didn't notice much else at first, for he ducked his head to hide his shame before anything else could register.

He was _laughing_ at him.

"I apologize if I frightened you," said the stranger gently after a moment, clearly benign in his mockery. His manner of speech was very measured and careful, as though he was hiding an accent. "Are you all right?"

Ashter nodded, swallowing – his pride – hard as his breathing leveled and his heart began to beat again. "Yes," he answered, finding that using his voice made him feel better, too. He looked up. "You really shouldn't sneak – "

Those eyes.

He had never seen this man before. He would have remembered, because even though he was up to his shoulders in water, he could tell that he was _perfect_. His thick, mostly wet hair had started to dry in the sun and gleamed chestnut, and the lithe grace of his build made the prince wonder if he was an elf. He had a sharp-looking face but soft-looking lips, and...oh, Lord, why did he look at his lips...

No, this man was not of Tirallan, or any neighboring provinces. But he would know those eyes anywhere. They shown with wildness and freedom, danced with multitudes of blues and greens like the sea itself, pierced him with ferocity and warmed him with kindness.

_Those were the eyes from his dream._

"Who _are_ you?" the prince breathed, suddenly fascinated and afraid all at once.

The stranger looked amused, laughter flooding back into his eyes and a smile dimpling his smooth cheeks. "My name is Gabriel," he repeated in a high, musical voice – which also sounded familiar. He tilted his head slightly to one side and watched Ashter with the curious innocence of a dog. "Who are _you_?"

Knowing the man's name did not answer any of the questions swirling in Ashter's head. If anything, it only brought in more. Did he know a Gabriel when he was a child? Where did he come from, and who was his family? Wasn't he going to catch his death in that water for so long? Where were his clothes? _Oh, God,_ he hoped he wasn't _naked_ farther down...

He almost forgot to answer. "I'm Ashter," he managed, blushing furiously. He offered his hand out to shake, since he had so far made a terrible first impression and hoped maybe to rectify it.

Gabriel stared at it with a bemused expression, and when he blinked up at Ashter with a question in his eyes the prince nearly withdrew it, babbling mindless excuses and apologies. He had even opened his mouth to start, but a slender hand slick with cold water hesitantly closed around his and cut him off.

"Ashter," the swimmer repeated, as though the name was some sort of food he was tasting for the first time and could not decide if he liked or not. A moment passed, and he smiled warmly. "I think it suits you."

Ashter did not have the time to be flattered, for he had already noticed another feature that sent his mind into a confused wind of curiosity. At the end of Gabriel's extended arm was a tattoo, inked jet black so that it disagreed dramatically with his milky skin. It appeared to be the head of a trident, refined in its design but absolutely _feral_ in its presentation.

He must have been a sailor.

But he didn't _look_ like a sailor – those men were gruff and hairy, and most of them didn't like to spend their time in the water when it was not required of them. And besides, their hands would never be as soft as Gabriel's, and...

Oh, no. He was still holding Gabriel's hand, wasn't he?

Ashter jerked back like a scalded cat, thoroughly ashamed of himself, realizing that his abruptness would startle the other a fraction of a second too late. Gabriel stiffened and withdrew sharply, the muscles in his arms and shoulders visibly tense. "Perhaps it was wrong of me to intrude," he remarked carefully, eying the prince. "I do not wish to fight."

He seemed to be reaching for something at his hip as he spoke. Ashter could not see what it was, and it took him a moment to realize that he must have a knife.

If he did not want to fight, then why on earth did he have a weapon?

"No, no!" the prince said quickly, and to his great relief the hand withdrew. "It's only that I've never seen anyone quite like you before, and my manners seem to have left me. Forgive me if I made you feel unwelcome."

Gabriel's eyebrows arched incredulously. "You have never seen us before?"

_Us?_

Ashter had never imagined that one word would spawn so much inquiry. The more Gabriel spoke, the more mysterious he became. "I'm sorry?" he offered lamely, the haughty look of superior knowledge in the blue-eyed man's expression making him sheepish. "Seen who?"

"Merfolk," answered Gabriel as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

What?

Ashter's mouth fell open but no words came out.

_What?_

Gabriel slowly began to look less and less disdainful and more and more bewildered, obviously just as shocked as his companion. "You _must_ have," he insisted, a bit of pink racing across his sharp cheekbones. "You are chief of the nearby tribe, are you not?"

Chief? Tribe? Ashter understood what the man – merman? – was asking, but the words sounded so _foreign_ in reference to himself and his village that he was hesitant to answer. He tried to squeak out a 'yes,' but could not even manage that and instead nodded vigorously.

"My people and yours have been living in harmony since before I was even born."

Sweet baby Jesus.

Ashter wished he had more to contribute to the conversation than goggle eyes and an unhinged jaw. Truly, he did. But all this time he had lived with the assertion that the stories his sailors told about mermaids were just drunken ramblings, that none of it was true. Women with scales instead of legs and sang entire crews to their deaths? Surely no creature like that actually existed, right?

_Right_?

"Where's your tail?" he blurted before he could stop himself. "Merfolk – or whatever you call yourselves – have tails."

"You take me for a liar?" Gabriel countered, hurt and offended. He lifted his chin and gazed thoughtfully at Ashter for a moment, defiance flickering briefly in his eyes. Never, not once in his life had someone looked at him like that before.

If he blinked, Ashter would have missed it.

Suddenly the man and his fiery eyes were gone, and what took his place was _undeniably_ the tail of a fish. It teetered slightly one direction and then the other before centering, scales catching sunlight and gleaming with all the different shades of blue Ashter knew existed, and some he did not and could have only imagined. They flowed seamlessly into human skin just at his hips, where he glimpsed the ornately carved hunting dagger he had almost used dangling from a thin belt made of some grayish material that he did not recognize.

Shaming himself for looking just a few heartbeats too long, Ashter looked as far up and away as he could. The fin itself was wide and had a very small nick in it, and he wondered with a slight chill how it got there. He imagined Gabriel standing on his hands below the surface like an acrobat, and that he would have been rather tall if...

If he was a _human_.

With a graceful curl inward, the tail – no, _Gabriel_ tilted toward him, and with a loud slap of his fin sent water spraying into Ashter's face. Just like that, the face of a young man appeared above the surface again, and no one would have ever known he was any different from them.

And he was _smirking_, just ever so slightly in a way that made the prince think that splash was completely intentional. His eyes sparked with playfulness. "Does that satisfy you?"

Did it?

Ashter sat back and stared at the creature – or was he a person? He rubbed at his eyes and wiped away the water trickling down his face with the back of his hand, deciding he had more questions than answers and replying with an astonished, almost desperate "_No_."

The merman laughed. Not at him like he had before, but just tilted his head back and _laughed_, and it was the loveliest sound the prince had heard in a long time. He forgot, for a moment, what he had just seen and reasoned that _yes_, Gabriel was most certainly a person.

A beast, after all, would never make his heart skip and flutter like a baby bird trying to fly.

"I come into these waters to hunt, and you are here quite often," Gabriel informed him, crossing his arms lightly on the edge of the rock. He was so close now that Ashter could – _but don't_ – touch him, still with a vaguely guarded look in his eyes but much more relaxed than he had been initially. "I should go back before I am missed. Perhaps we could – "

Ashter cut him off eagerly. "Meet here again?"

Gabriel laughed a second time. "Yes," he agreed, slicking his hair back and away from his eyes and smiling. "It was good to meet you, Ashter."

It was totally insane. It was completely crazy. It was terrifying. It was _wonderful_.

That was the moment Ashter realized he was in love.

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><p><strong><em>AN:_**_ Thanks for reading! As always, reviews and constructive criticisms are more than welcome!_


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